2024-06-08 General Assembly

APPROVED

Wikimedia Belgium (WMBE) invited all effective members to the General Assembly.

Only effective members can vote. If you can't be present, you can give a proxy to another member. One single proxy allowed per member. There is only a physical gathering, no video conference.

Venue

Saturday 8 June 2024 from 14:00-18:00 Amazone, Middaglijnstraat 10 Rue du Méridien, 1210 Sint-Joost-ten-Node

Introduction

Geert opens the meeting at 14:05.

Meeting administration

• Chair of the meeting: ‎Geert Van Pamel
• Vote counting: Rony Vissers
• Note taking: Frans Grijzenhout

Presence

General meeting attendees in order of registration:

Voting members

1. Geert Van Pamel
2. Dominique Labar
3. Norbert Matheuwezen
4. Anne Jeanneret
5. Roland Rotsaert
6. Griet De Ceuster
7. Frans Grijzenhout
8. Rony Vissers

Becoming an effective member

The Board confirms three new effective members:

1. Griet De Ceuster
2. Inge Van der Stighelen
3. Davide Denri

Proxy declarations

1. Kathelijne De Vos → Norbert Matheuwezen
2. Dries Van den Abeele → Geert Van Pamel
3. Antoine Motte dit Falisse → Anne Jeanneret
4. Ronald Torfs → Dominique Labar
5. Lionel Scheepmans → Frans Grijzenhout

Non-voting participants

1. Johan Smits

Counting	Result
Count of presence	8
Count of proxies	5
Associate member	1
Total represented	13
Ordinary majority	7

Introduction round

Everyone introduced themselves briefly.

Activities in 2023

Geert shows the 2023 activity overview, including the Institute for Aeronomie (BIRA), Public Domainday, Projects via Friends of WMBE: Koers museum and Amazone, Industriemuseum, Vrouwen van papier, Fotomuseum Antwerpen, Meemoo (Project Visual name authority), Industriemuseum, Jenevermuseum, Erfgoedcel Roeselare.

Activities/2023

• annual photo contests Wiki Loves
• a number of writing sessions with different organizations
• collaboration with educational institutions and heritage institutions
• Library of EU Parliament: document 100 most important books on Wikidata
• Anne talks about WikiFranca. and the Conference in Quebec in autumn 2024.
• Geert gives an update on Wikimedia Europe (General Assembly in Prague) and on the Movement Charter (Wikimedia Summit in Berlin).

Approval of the Annual Accounts 2023

Geert gives feedback on the annual accounts and the financial report. Main point: available budget was only half used.

Annual accounts:

• Annual Accounts 2023
• Financial report 2023

Annual accounts Wikimedia Belgium 2023 - Report of the audit committee 24 May 2024

Composition of committee

The committee consisted of Frans Grijzenhout.

Opinion of the committee

The committee had full access to the accounts. The committee found no discrepancies in the accounts and recommends that the general meeting grant the board discharge for the 2023 financial year.

Checks and balances

1. The bank account balances as at 31 December 2023 were verified. The balances on the balance sheet as at 31 December 2023 match the bank statements.
2. Receipts 2023 have been verified. The entries match the bank statements.
3. Expenditure 2023 has been verified by sampling. The checked entries match the submitted invoices and claims.
4. Audit composition WMF grant.
   • In 2023, the excess subsidy received 2022 € 25,098.25 was refunded. The amount had already been recognised as a liability on the balance sheet as at 31-12-2022.
   • The subsidy received 2023 was € 40,000. Spent on projects according to financial year WMF € 19,390.67. The balance of € 20,613.84 has been placed on the balance sheet as a liability. € 613.84 was refunded in January 2024.
   • For 2024, WMF has approved a grant of € 20,000. This amount has not been received, but has been offset against the balance at 31-12-2023
   • In 2022, Wikimedia Belgium received € 9,600 from the Friends of Wikimedia Belgium Fund. This fund is managed by a committee of the King Baudouin Foundation. The projects were implemented and closed in 2023. The amount was recognised as a reserve on the balance sheet as of 31 December 2022 and was transferred to the respective Wikimedian in Residence projects after completion of the projects in 2023.
   • Balance sheet: equity increased by € 232.56. It relates to donations and membership fees. Equity at 31-12-2023 is € 6,843.94.
5. Provisions / reserves. Provisions as at 31 December 2022 have been released.

General suggestions

For several years now, the WMBE board has not had a separate board member with responsibility for financial matters and all tasks related to finances are performed by the chairman. From the point of view of separation of responsibilities (good governance), this is undesirable. The audit committee urges the board, after the expansion of the board, to achieve a healthy separation of financial functions as soon as possible and to appoint a treasurer from among their number.

Friends of Wikimedia Belgium Fund

• The Committee thanks for donations to the Friends of Wikimedia Belgium Fund
• Doing a gift is made easy with the Payconiq QR-code
• The Belgian government is requiring people to provide national number (consequence: international donations are not possible any more)
• Project funds on the current account: completed projects Friends of: KOERS and Amazone (€ 9,600)
• Renewal of the contract with the King Baudouin Foundation till 30 June 2026
• WMBE is searching new candidate projects (budget is available)

Approval of financial statements

The financial statements were unanimously approved.

Discharge of the board

The board was unanimously discharged.

Approval of the budget 2024

Geert presents an overview of the budget and the activities in the first half year of 2024 and adds an outlook for the second half of 2024. We received a WMF grant of 20.000 € for 2024. Details:

• Wikimedia Belgium Yearly grant 2024
• Activities 2024

A demand for an extension of the budget 2024 to the WMF Foundation to add a freelance contract of 2 days per week as of September 2024 for communication (e-mail, internal and external websites, social media), project management, and partner relationships has been approved by the WMF for 15,000 € on 7 July 2024.

The budget was unanimously approved.

Board elections

Association rules

Geert explains the procedure and the nominations.

• A mandate as Board member is valid for 2 years
• The Chair needs to be re-elected every year
• The number of Board members is between 3-6; Board decision 2015-12-05 approved at the 2016-01-23 General Assembly
• Effective members can become a Board member after being candidate board member, and after election by the GA
• Associate members can become effective member, after 6 months being associate member, upon request, and after approval by the Board

Candidates

Can continue their 2^nd year Board member without re-election:

• Norbert Matheuwezen

Up for re-election:

• Dominique Labar
• Geert Van Pamel

New candidate Board members:

• Griet De Ceuster
• Inge Van der Stighelen

For info: What candidate board members need to know

Voting by the General Assembly

Voting by the General Assembly

Statement	Yes	No	Abstain
Approval of the Annual accounts 2023	13	0	0
Agree to Discharge the board 2023	13	0	0
Approval of the Budget 2024	13	0	0
Approval of Board member Dominique Labar	13	0	0
Approval of Board member Geert Van Pamel	13	0	0
Approval of Board member Griet De Ceuster	13	0	0
Approval of Board member Inge Van der Stighelen	13	0	0

Other subjects

• Application Peer-to-Peer platform for the Friends of Wikimedia Belgium Fund; approved by the Committee, applied to the King Baudouin Foundation.
• New projects for "Friends of WMBE" sought
• Proposal: Engaging freelance 2 days per week from September
• Celebration of 10 years of WMBE (gathering ideas, brainstorming)
• Split the function of accountant, and banking operations (four-eyes principle)

Reprint of "Erfgoed ontsluiten via Wikipedia"

Booklet "Erfgoed Ontsluiten via Wikipedia" (Unlocking Heritage via Wikipedia) can be possibly translated into French. Can Anne ask WikiFranca to do that? It is important to involve not only Wikimedia France, but also Canada, Switzerland, and African countries. Suggestion: first translate existing content and then adapt it to local practices (local= French-language Wikipedia conventions, which are different from NL and EN).

Comment by Roland: Images are too small. Isn't the booklet too expensive? Geert: We give it away to new editors (WMF budget). Make video? Or look up and document/list what has already been made. Possibly include subtitles. QR code on the back of the booklet to where resources can be found.

Suggestions for Friends of Wikimedia projects

• Rony suggests the Bruges Museum
• Dominique: approach BIRA (Belgian Institute Royal Aeronomie).
• Call in the Newsletter (there is a maximum budget available per project of €7,500 via the King Baudouin Foundation).
• Proposal to ask WMF to "double" its own contributions (proposal from the committee for the 2025 grant)
• Cooperation with French-speaking institutions via Antoine or Anne?

Engaging a freelancer 2 days a week from September

• Ask Antoine again? Supported by Anne and Dominique. Suggestion Rony: Consult with Antoine: make a list of possible projects and then ask Antoine what he could/would like to do. Coaching and mentoring is also required.
• Find a freelancer for communications. Possibly another person for project supervision. Partner consultation?
• Rony: share an employee with WM Europe? Griet: not sure whether it is a good idea: conflict of interest?
• Make job description (+ responsibilities) and task list
• Griet has experience with this. Also with searching on freelancer platforms.
• Johan: €40-60 per hour is probably too low. (nb: WMF thinks this is too expensive...)

Board organisation

• Geert creates Google accounts for Griet and Inge.
• A two-day meeting in Koksijde on 18-19 September to prepare the budget, as well as planning the activities + strategy.
• First board meeting 14 June in Leuven.

10 years WMBE

(official founding date: 27 September 2014)

• Dominique: Artificial intelligence topic?
• Griet: Small conference with multiple topics / testimonials / experiences of 10 years of collaboration. Partners GLAM, Education and WP invite volunteers to contribute. And then expand scope to include institutions WM does not yet collaborate with. Also consider media journalists.

Possible venue: the Mondaneum in Mons (Mons)? Invite journalists. But: long travel -- 2 hours from Antwerp...

Possible problems: language (solve by tracks?)

Problem: Saturday is okay for volunteers, a weekday for professionals. Multiple activities? Doesn't necessarily have to be in September. Can also be in October or November. Idea: Wiki Loves Heritage award ceremony at the same time? Would then mean decoupling this activity from the public domain day....

Communication

• Every Tuesday evening from 19:00-21:00, an informal virtual meeting and helpdesk

GLAM

This summer, we will organise several photo competitions: Wiki Loves Heritage, Wiki Loves Monuments, Wiki Loves Denderland.

Expense claims

Participants of the general meeting may submit an expense claim.

Geert closes the meeting at 17:15.